1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to airport security and in particular to a method and system for identifying and tracking a person, passenger, or employee in and through any building and in particular from and through airports and aircraft in the world air transportation system.
2. Description of Related Art
An identification badge is many times provided to employees of buildings or airports. Passengers in airports and visitors to buildings however are identified only by a single photo identification that is presented at check-in, or sometimes not at all in the case of buildings. Security consists of a series of questions concerning baggage and tickets. No check is made on the identity of the passenger except to ask for a government issued piece of ID like a driver's license or passport. There is no cross-checking as to whether the presented ID is valid or fraudulent. The passenger's location in the airport or building is not known or tracked. When the passenger checks into a flight, a boarding pass is presented and the passenger boards the aircraft. There is no verification that the same passenger who checked in is the one that boarded, and it is very easy for a boarded passenger to exit the aircraft after boarding without being noticed by anyone. Security at airports is minimal as to who a passenger is and where the passenger is in the airport.
Since Sep. 11, 2001, airport security has come under tighter scrutiny; however, there is still no way to positively identify a passenger or track a passenger's movements while they are in the airport or aircraft; no way to ascertain when they have passed through security or whether they have exited a secure area without boarding a plane; no way to prevent or detect someone passing through security more than once, and no way to be sure the person on the plane is the same person who passed through the security checkpoint and/or was issued a boarding pass. In the case of buildings, the situation is worse. In this case, once a visitor is admitted to the building, usually, but not always, by signing in, the visitor is usually free to wander anywhere on any floor. A skilled terrorist could easily gain access to a roof, basement, or mechanical room area without being detected. There is no verification whatsoever that the person who checked in is who he claimed to be or that he or she went where they said they were going.
Prior art airport systems have proposed electronic tickets and smartcards that can be carried by passengers. Tuttle in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,671 presents a system for locating an individual in a facility where a portable wireless transponder device is carried by the individual. Tuttle's device resembles a standard security badge with a possible photo of the individual on the badge. Tuttle's invention is directed toward location of employees who would wear such badges. Tuttle states that a passenger could also possess such an identification and be located. However, Tuttle's patent was developed with the idea that a business traveler would not want to stand in line for a ticket, much less for an electronic interrogation, and mentions the use of curb-side baggage check-in. His method terminates once a passenger or bag enters an aircraft. He makes no reference to any type of security checking of the individual.
Yokozawa et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,369 present an information delivery system and portable information terminal where an individual possesses a smartcard type of wireless device and can be tracked by a wireless system. Yokozawa also describes a person passing through a check-in gate with the gate itself recognizing and communicating with the portable device by wireless means. While Yokozawa presents a wireless device carried by a passenger, there is no mention of the security aspects of the situation.
The prior art shows systems where passengers and/or employees carry wireless smartcards that communicate in data bases, but not via satellite or internet, and none of these systems solve, or even address, the tremendous security problem that exists at airports and other buildings where potential passengers could be terrorists, criminals or other dangerous persons. They do not address the problem of whether a passenger actually boards a flight and remains on the plane, and whether the passenger actually arrives and exits a second or subsequent airport, nor do they propose be tracked while aboard an aircraft with data transmitted ahead to connecting aircraft and/or customs/law enforcement/immigration officials. In the current airport system and prior art systems, there has historically been no connection or relationship between airline database information and security database information. Since Sep. 11, 2001, in the US, there has been some recent sharing of FBI information with airlines; however, this has been limited to lists of known terrorists. There has been no direct access from the airport to the law enforcement data base.
What is badly needed is the ability to screen passengers or visitors and move then through a terminal to their aircraft and then on to their destination, or through a building to their destination while knowing at all times who and where the passengers are.